Integrative Narrative
As mentioned in the home page, my interest in Japanese culture started at young age. But never did I imagine that I would study the language and culture as my college major. My first experience with Japanese in a classroom setting occurred in high school as I was set on learning the language in order to better understand anime and possibly make friends with some of the Japanese transfer students that went to my high school. Having had a very positive experience with the language, culture, and people during my high schools years and visit to the country during my freshman year, I decided to take it further into my college years. Studying Japanese was not my initial decision as I see myself as an artist more than a linguist, but in the end being able to speak, understand, and read in another language seemed more rewarding. I initially wanted to simply be able to understand the language in order to watch anime or read manga without English translations as they were my major points of interest when first learning the language in high school. My intentions have greatly evolved since then. I am now greatly interested in learning about Japan through its culture and rich history in order to better understand the evolution of their people from their origins as immigrants from the Korean peninsula in 300 B.C. to the First World country that it is today.
My comprehension of the language and understanding of the culture was greatly strengthened thanks to the classes I took at CSUMB. My ability to speak in complete sentences using certain grammatical structures and conjugation of verbs, adjectives, and nouns through classes such as Business Japanese and Advanced Communication (MLO1) was increased through quizzes, presentations, and daily class activities. Appreciation of Japan's unique cultural history, values, and practices was experienced through classes such as Samurai Spirit and Japanese Cinema (MLO2). Through the SPAN 308 class I was able to learn about a secondary culture that focused on the culture, colonization, politics, land and labor disputes, immigration patterns, and achievements and contributions that the Chicano community has made to the United States over a period of 500 years (MLO3). Technology was naturally an important part in collecting and presenting what I had learned throughout each class. Specific classes, such as PreCapstone and Advanced Presentational Communication, helped me to further develop my skills certain research methods and technologies, such as our school's online library catalog and Google Drive applications, needed to assist me in developing my Capstone project (MLO4). Lastly, but most importantly, is my study abroad experience during my time at Osaka Gakuin University (MLO5). I am most proud of what I learned during my time in Japan as being integrated into Japanese society and culture forced me, in a good way, to further develop my speaking, reading, writing, and listening skills. Daily one on one practice with native Japanese students and teachers broadened my understanding of sentence structures and patterns, adding a brand new repertoire of grammar and vocabulary particular to daily life situations and cultural customs that cannot be found in America.
My Service Learning experience is also something I am very proud of having accomplished as myself, a fellow Japanese major, and two Japanese exchange students were able to teach elementary school students about Japanese culture, something that was completely new to them. This in turn helped them to be more understanding about the differences between cultures and people around the world by teaching them to appreciate the uniqueness of Japanese culture. Hopefully we were able to make an impact in the children's lives in creating tolerance for multiculturalism by sparking their interest in learning about a culture very different from their own.
In the future, I am hoping to use the knowledge I have gained from the classes at CSUMB to acquire a job in Japan. I have no set plans as of late, but it would be a dream come true to work for Nintendo, whether at their headquarters in North America or in Kyoto, Japan. Video games hold much significance in my life so to be able to possibly work as a translator or even perhaps a concept artist would be the most amazing experience I could ever think of. Working for the Nintendo headquarters in Japan would be most ideal though as I would be able to immersed in the culture once again and further develop my speaking, reading, writing, and listening skills overall. Fingers crossed that I may have such an opportunity in my future!
My comprehension of the language and understanding of the culture was greatly strengthened thanks to the classes I took at CSUMB. My ability to speak in complete sentences using certain grammatical structures and conjugation of verbs, adjectives, and nouns through classes such as Business Japanese and Advanced Communication (MLO1) was increased through quizzes, presentations, and daily class activities. Appreciation of Japan's unique cultural history, values, and practices was experienced through classes such as Samurai Spirit and Japanese Cinema (MLO2). Through the SPAN 308 class I was able to learn about a secondary culture that focused on the culture, colonization, politics, land and labor disputes, immigration patterns, and achievements and contributions that the Chicano community has made to the United States over a period of 500 years (MLO3). Technology was naturally an important part in collecting and presenting what I had learned throughout each class. Specific classes, such as PreCapstone and Advanced Presentational Communication, helped me to further develop my skills certain research methods and technologies, such as our school's online library catalog and Google Drive applications, needed to assist me in developing my Capstone project (MLO4). Lastly, but most importantly, is my study abroad experience during my time at Osaka Gakuin University (MLO5). I am most proud of what I learned during my time in Japan as being integrated into Japanese society and culture forced me, in a good way, to further develop my speaking, reading, writing, and listening skills. Daily one on one practice with native Japanese students and teachers broadened my understanding of sentence structures and patterns, adding a brand new repertoire of grammar and vocabulary particular to daily life situations and cultural customs that cannot be found in America.
My Service Learning experience is also something I am very proud of having accomplished as myself, a fellow Japanese major, and two Japanese exchange students were able to teach elementary school students about Japanese culture, something that was completely new to them. This in turn helped them to be more understanding about the differences between cultures and people around the world by teaching them to appreciate the uniqueness of Japanese culture. Hopefully we were able to make an impact in the children's lives in creating tolerance for multiculturalism by sparking their interest in learning about a culture very different from their own.
In the future, I am hoping to use the knowledge I have gained from the classes at CSUMB to acquire a job in Japan. I have no set plans as of late, but it would be a dream come true to work for Nintendo, whether at their headquarters in North America or in Kyoto, Japan. Video games hold much significance in my life so to be able to possibly work as a translator or even perhaps a concept artist would be the most amazing experience I could ever think of. Working for the Nintendo headquarters in Japan would be most ideal though as I would be able to immersed in the culture once again and further develop my speaking, reading, writing, and listening skills overall. Fingers crossed that I may have such an opportunity in my future!